Heracles | Myth, Significance, & Labors | Britannica
Heracles, Greek Herakles, Roman Hercules, one of the most famous Greco-Roman legendary heroes.Traditionally, Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene (see Amphitryon), granddaughter of Perseus.Zeus swore that the next son born of the Perseid house should become ruler of Greece, but—by a trick of Zeus's jealous wife, Hera—another child, the sickly Eurystheus, was born first and became .